NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL NEWS

Manipur and Haryana eves emerged champions in the Pune Football Club 58th National School Under-17 and 19 Football Girls Championship 2012-13, organised by Directorate of Sports and Youth Services, Pune, Maharashtra and Zilla Krida Parishad, at Balewadi Sports Complex, on Monday.

In the morning session, Manipur dominated proceedings and dethroned Nagaland 5-0 for the Under-17 title. The win was powered by a brace by Ranjibala and Sunita, while their prolific scorer Ratanbala netted one. The winners led 3-0 at the halfway stage.

Later in the evening, Haryana and Jharkhand fought out a tough battle for the Under-19 title, before the former prevailed 3-1 via the tie-breaker after a 0-0 regulation time draw. Both teams had earlier drawn their group stage encounter and the final was no different as both teams treaded cautiously resulting in a goalless full time score.

In the ensuing tie-breaker, Jharkhand suffered a heartbreak when Shakuntala and Singhi Kachhap crashed their efforts onto the vertical and horizontal respectively. As a result Dular Marandi was the only player to score. Haryana had three success from the spot with Priyanka, Nirmala and Poonam finding the net.

Pune FC were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw by a 10-men Sporting Clube de Goa side in an I-League Round 17 encounter at the Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune on Sunday. The visitors were reduced to 10-men in first-half injury time after midfielder Rovan Pereira was sent off for a second bookable offense. Sporting played their heart out to salvage a point from the game.

With a point from the game, Pune FC stay fourth in the table with 30 points from 15 games while Sporting Goa stay 12th with 14 points. Bruno Colaco though, didn't have an auspicious beginning in goal, failing to read a routine long ball into his box, allowing James Moga to nip in. The South Sudanese striker too should have done better, but after rounding the keeper, he somehow missed an open goal.

Gurjinder Kumar then had the best opportunity of the half, but he failed to bundle the ball home, virtually from a yard out, after a Douhou Pierre's freekick fell kindly in his path. The half ended with Sporting reduced to ten men after Rovan brought down Karma Tsewang and was shown his second yellow.

Moga yet again failed to trouble the keeper, after he was found by yet another delightful cross by substitute Khangthang Paite, making it a hat-trick of heading opportunities spurned by the team in quick succession. The hosts then missed another chance to go ahead, but this time it was more down to a fantastic save from Bruno, who did brilliantly to deflect away an Arata strike, after the midfielder was set-up by Douhou, with a clever ball across the box.

Moga's torrid evening looked set to continue, when he failed to connect properly with a cross by Douhou, after a promising exchange between the midfielder and Subash Singh. The ball could have still gone over the line, as Bruno slipped at a vital moment. However thankfully for the custodian, Keita Boubacar was present on the line, to clear the danger.

In the dying moments of the game, Moga once again failed to finish after he was set up beautifully by Paite. The game remained goalless as the referee blew the final whistle.

Defending champions Nagaland will play Manipur and Jharkhand will take on Haryana in the Under-17 and 19 finals of the Pune Football Club 58th National School Football Girls Championship 2012-13, organised by Directorate of Sports and Youth Services, Pune, Maharashtra and Zilla Krida Parishad, at Balewadi Sports Complex, on Monday.

In the semifinals played on Sunday, Nagaland scored a facile 4-0 win Bihar, while Manipur had to wait for the sudden death to register a 5-4 result after regulation time and the tie-breaker were locked. In the Under-19 section, Haryana outplayed host's Maharashtra with Kavita Devi (2) and Munesh Kumari ending the run of the home side. In the other semifinal, Jharkhand scored the best result of the day registering a one sided 5-0 win over Odisha.

In the third-place play off's Haryana beat Bihar 3-0 via the tie-breaker in the Under-17 section, while Odisha ended Maharashtra's hoped of a top 3 finish with a narrow 2-1 win. The Under-17 finals hanve been slated for 7.30 am, while the Under-19 final is scheduled for 1.45 pm.